Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
May 12, 2018

What has he done for you lately? That was the question repeatedly asked by candidate for St Andrew Irene Sandiford Garner to residents of Orange Hill, St James.

She was speaking at a Democratic Labour Party meeting Friday night where accused MP George Payne of doing nothing for the past 27 years.

“When you want to represent people you have to ensure that their lives are better than you found them. If an individual did not work for you at 60, they can’t work for you at 70. You need energy, you need vision, you need intelligence. What has he done for you lately? What has he done?”

She pointed out that when she first contested the seat in 2008 her slogan was “ready to serve”. However, she accused Payne of using the same slogan which made no sense because he should have been serving all along.

“How can you sit in a seat for 27 years and wake up in 2018 telling the good people who repose their confidence in you that you are now ready to serve? What do they do to serve you? What do they do to earn the money that the State pays them? How does your representative pass that hardcourt that is not utilised and ask you for a vote? I am not your MP but I made sure that the Buccaneer works. Why, because I see the value of having those facilities for the youth. It is now refurbished. It now has air-conditioning. It now has 17 computers. I didn’t need to be a MP to do it. I just needed the will to ensure the minister responsible did it.”

The DLP candidate said it wasn’t only Orange Hill that was neglected.

“It burns my heart to know that I grew up in St Andrew and witness the MP allow the centre down there to run to ruins to the point where men were playing dominoes under a light of a lamp with no water borne facilities. It was not a problem for him to see the degradation of Belleplaine and come back to those people every five years asking for support. What type of conscience does that?”

Sandiford Garner also said there was something very telling about the fact that five people are vying to represent St Andrew.

“This constituency has about five people looking to unseat the incumbent, it tells you something is very wrong with that individual. One of them is from right here in Orange Hill. You have a very important decision to make for your future and for your children’s future,” she said.